The Curse of Cactus Juice
by RandomWarning
Summary: The war has just ended, and Toph has a little free time on her hands. Too bad they're spent dealing with Sokka...who has yet again gotten his hands on some cactus juice. What will he do this time?


**A/N: Don't ask where this came from. I guess it happened because me and my good friend, aka LadyBaSingSe, were watching the Desert episode. Everything just kind of took off from there. I thought it would be fun to write something from Toph's pov. See what goes through her head when these things happen. All I can say is, poor Toph! I would put Sokka in an Earth cage for a week, for hurting my feelings. Oh well. Hope you like it anyways!**

**_Disclaimer: sigh Must I really do this? I do not in any way,shape, or form, own Avatar: The Last Airbender. There, I said it. Happy now?..._**

After Earthbending for a good hour or two, I make my way back to my place. The war just ended and things were beginning to settle down. For now, Aang and co. decided on settling in Ba Sing Se. Originally, it was going to be Omashu, but Katara thought differently. And, as usual, Aang listened to Katara. Upon reaching my temporary residence, I head into my room. I quickly change and get ready to go out again. I know your probably thinking it's disgusting that I didn't bathe, but hey, I haven't been able to bathe that much when were on the run ya know.

Without doing anything special to myself, I return outside. I immediately come across Katara. I can tell by the vibrations she sends through her strides that she's upset about something.

Not needing to face her, I say, "Katara, what's the deal?"

She faces me, a look of incredulity on her face. "What makes you think something's wrong?" she asks.

"Earthbender. I can tell." I reply.

"Well, just because your an Earthbender doesn't necessarily mean you can tell what I'm feeling." she retorts.

I blindly face her. No pun intended. "Katara. I've been around you all enough. I can tell. Now, what's the deal?" I nearly yell at her. An awkward silence precedes between us. I stop and wait patiently.

"Well..." she starts. "It's just that Sokka..." she cuts off abruptly.

I rise an eyebrow inquiringly. "What about Sokka?" I ask her.

Katara turns and looks at me. "It's nothing. He's just being Sokka." she says calmly. By that one sentence, I can tell she's hiding something. I don't voice my thoughts though, on account that she might delve further into a lie. I sigh heavily and continue on. "Toph? Where are you going?" Katara shouts after me.

"I'm going to see Sokka." I say. I hear her gasp and start to follow me. "There's no need for you to follow me, Sugar Queen."

Katara ignores my nickname for her. "Toph, I really don't think you should go and see him right now."

"Oh? And why's that?" I ask her.

"Well...uh...because..." she falters.

"I thought so." I say, and smile victoriously. I continue on my journey without looking back. When I'm well ahead of her, Katara whispers to herself, "You're gonna regret it Toph." and walks off.

* * *

Once I reach the house that Katara and her brother, Sokka, were staying at, I knock loudly. Sometimes, Sokka was hard of hearing.

"Sokka? Sokka?! You in there?!" I shout. When no one answers, I knock down the dear. No need for subtleties here. I walk around the inside of the house, calling out. "Sokka! Anyone home?" Still no answer. I shrug my shoulders and make my way into the kitchen. I search around and eventually find Sokka's hidden stash. "Ahhh...food. My first friend." I say to myself. After I gorge myself, I continue my search.

Eventually I reach the door to the backyard. I put my ear up against it and hear mumblings in the background. I fell many different vibrations coming from the backyard. I raise my eyebrows inquiringly.

"What the heck is going on out there?" I whisper to myself. Without any regard to the residents, I knock the door to the backyard down too. I take a few steps into the backyard. I stand still for a couple moments. I find that I can't feel any vibrations whatsoever. "That's strange."

I walk around a little and eventually call out for Sokka. "Sokka?! Sokka you retard, where are you?!" I yell, growing annoyed.

_Where the hell __is__ that boy?!_ I think to myself. Then, out of nowhere, I'm knocking off my feet and onto the ground. "What the..." I start, then jump back onto my feet. I suddenly feel many different vibrations all around me. I get into my Earthbending stance. That's when I hear it. Murmuring. The murmuring of a dimwitted fool. A dimwitted fool whose name just happened to be Sokka.

"Toph!! Toph, is that you? I missed you!! Where did you go??" says Sokka, slurring his speech. He runs up and hugs me. Surprised, I fling him off of me with my Earthbending. He hits the ground with a thud. "Owww...that wasn't very nice."

"Whoops. Sorry Sokka." I say. He gets up and starts staggering over to me. "Sokka, have you been drinking cactus juice again? I thought we banned you from that stuff." I tell him. Sokka stands in front of me.

"Toph, how did we get out on the beach? I thought we were at home. Do we live on the beach now?" he asks, dazed. I shake my head and follow him. He flops onto the ground and lays there. "Look, Toph! I'm a crab!"

Still shaking my head, I haul him out of the dirt, and onto his feet. "Come on Sokka, you need some rest." I say. I slowly lead Sokka inside and take him to his room. How I found it, I'll never know. I don't even know if it was his room. All I know is that it had a bed in it. Which was exactly what Sokka needed. I dropped Sokka as carefully as I could onto the bed. Sokka rolls around in the bed like a little kid. Eventually, I feel his eyes rest on me. "Toph, you look so pretty. When did you start wearing dresses? They look so nice on you." he says. I feel a blush start to heat my cheeks. I turn away from him, reflexively.

"Sokka. You shouldn't say things like that. You have Suki, you know." I tell him, trying to kick him back into reality.

"Suki? Who's Suki? You're the only one in my life, Toph." he says. The blush on my cheeks starts to burn furiously. It was weird. He never talked like this to me. Only to Suki. That's when I got angry. What did Suki have that I didn't?! I was the Earthbender after all, dammit! I whirled around and faced him.

"Sokka, now you listen to me! You need to snap out of this self-induced drunkenness that you're in. You love Suki, and that's how it is and is going to be. So, stop being like this!" I yell at him.

"But Toph, I love you." he says. That totally catches me off guard. I take a step back.

"You what?!" I say.

"You may be blind, but that's okie dokie for me. I loves you anyways." he says. Okay, now he was drunk, and messing with my feelings. Unsure of what to do or reply, I turn around and make a run for the door. Before I can, Sokka grabs my wrist. He was drunk, but his reflexes were still fully functional. "Toph? Where are you going? Stay here. Stay with me. We can drink cactus juice together. Drink and be merry! Wouldn't that be fun?" he asks me. He hiccups and lets go of my wrist. I take my chance and bolt out the door. I rush from the house, my ego and feelings scarred.

* * *

Racing to my house, I run into Katara. She stops me. "Toph? Toph, what's wrong?" she asks me. I put a hand to my cheek and realize that I had been crying. "Toph, please. Tell me what's wrong. What happened?" she asks me, concerned. I break away from her and run around her. "Toph! Toph!" she calls after me. I place a barrier between her and I so that she can't gain any distance. I burst through my door, literally, and run to my room. I angrily flop onto my bed. I let the tears that I had been trying to hold, flow freely.

I cover my head with my pillow. Why was everything so complicated? Why did he have to mess with my feelings like that?! It just wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair!! Why couldn't I be Suki? What _did_ she have that I didn't? That blockhead Sokka! Why did he have to drink that damn cactus juice! Then he went and said all of those things. Most of which were probably untrue. Okay, they were _all_ probably untrue. Why did he have to be like that? Why didn't he just realize that...just realize...

I uncover my head and sit up. I know that Sokka's a blockhead, but that doesn't mean anything to me. I take the pillow and clutch it tightly. I bury my face into it. Why didn't he just realize how much I loved him?


End file.
